Pipeline foes rounded up in N.D.

Armed officers clear camp on private land, arrest 117

Demonstrators stand by as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers moved in to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction in North Dakota on Thursday.
Demonstrators stand by as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers moved in to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction in North Dakota on Thursday.

CANNON BALL, N.D. -- Law enforcement officers dressed in riot gear and firing bean bags and pepper spray evicted protesters Thursday from private land in the path of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, escalating a monthslong dispute over American Indian rights and the project's environmental impact.

In an operation that took nearly six hours, hundreds of armed state and local police and National Guard -- some on foot and others in trucks, military Humvees and buses -- pushed past burning barricades to slowly envelop the camp.

No serious injuries were reported, though one man was hurt in the leg and received treatment from a medic.

Donnell Hushka, a spokesman for the Morton County sheriff's office, said 117 protesters had been arrested Thursday evening.

Among those arrested was a woman who pulled out a .38-caliber pistol and fired three times at officers, narrowly missing a sheriff's deputy, State Emergency Services spokesman Cecily Fong said. Officers did not return fire, she said.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said the camp had been cleared by nightfall although police were still dealing with protesters on the perimeter, and he said police would stay put for now.

"We're not leaving the area," Kirchmeier said. "We are just going to make sure that we maintain a presence in the area so the roadway stays open, and to keep individuals from camping on private land."

But Robert Eder, a 64-year-old Vietnam War veteran from the Standing Rock Reservation, said protesters would return.

"If they take everybody to jail, there will be twice as many tomorrow, and every day that passes more will come," he said.

Opponents of the pipeline over the weekend set up camp on private land owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, which is working to complete the 1,200-mile pipeline to carry oil from western North Dakota to Illinois. The route skirts the Standing Rock Reservation, and the tribe says it could endanger water supplies and disturb cultural sites. The state of North Dakota says no sensitive cultural sites have been found in the area.

The tribe has gone to court to challenge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision granting permits at more than 200 water crossings. A federal judge in September denied their request to block construction, but three federal agencies stepped in to order construction to halt on Corps-owned land around Lake Oahe, a wide spot of the Missouri River, while the Corps reviewed its decision-making.

Construction was allowed to continue on private land owned by the developer, with a goal of completion by the end of the year.

Thursday's operation to push out the protesters began a day after they had refused to leave voluntarily. Law enforcement officers repeatedly asked protesters to retreat, at one point using a high-pitched whistle they said was intended to "control and disperse" protesters.

The camp is just to the north of a more permanent and larger encampment on federally owned land that has been the main staging area for hundreds of protesters, including American Indians from across North America, environmentalists and some celebrities.

Many protesters openly defied the officers, while others took part in prayer circles and burned sage.

Cody Hall, a spokesman for the protesters, vowed a new camp would be built elsewhere in the pipeline's path, but on federal land.

"It's going to take a lot to move [the protesters] from there," he said.

Aaron Johnson, 50, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota, said he and other protesters weren't happy with the day's outcome.

"I came here for peace and prayer," he said. "When somebody sets something on fire, that's not peace and prayer."

A Section on 10/28/2016

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